From STL to Mexico to Snow...

Crazy crazy week. Started out with my trip to St. Louis to interview with Trans States Airlines. I flew down last Monday evening for a Tuesday morning interview. I didn't sleep much Sunday night out of nerves, and I didn't really sleep at all on Monday night for the same reason, so I was super tired, but the interview went really well and I got the job! I was actually pretty stupefied at just how easy it was. My interview at UND to be a flight instructor was waaaay more difficult than my interview at Trans States to fly a jet full of people. Nuts. I guess UND is intense on purpose. Anyhow, I'll start training on May 7th down in STL. I'll either be assigned there or in Richmond, VA. Neither are places I want to live at all, but this job is a stepping stone. If I dig the airline thing afterall, I think I'll just apply at Skywest in a few months and move back west, where life is good, the weather's not muggy, and the earth rises high. That's in the future though. Anyhow, after the interview, I was supposed to fly out standby at 1pm so I could get back to MSP for my flight to Cancun the following morning (I needed to be checking in at MSP at 4am). As is common in the muggy South (yes STL is in the South, even though some argue that it is not; I think of it as the Gateway to the South, not West), thunderstorms rocked the afternoon, and my flight was cancelled. Not good for a standby passenger, cuz everyone displaced by that flight wanted seats on the following flights. Long story short, I was bumped on one flight after another, and was still sitting in the airport after 11pm, wondering if I was going to have to by a last minute ticket from STL to Cancun to make the family vacation (I know, I know, rough problem going on vacation, but quite a pile of money was on the line). I did get on the last flight out at 11:45 pm, and pulled in the driveway in Coon Rapids at 2:30 am. We left to return to the MSP airport at 3:30 am to go to Cancun. (Remember I had not slept much in a couple days). We got on a 737-800, and I was assigned a middle seat. This means no sleep for me as I am taller than that plane allows any shred of comfort for. We got to Mexico, and I was a walking zombie for the first day, before finally getting a decent amount of rest that night. The rest of the trip went really well, minus some Mexican stomach trouble the last day. The resort we stayed at was all-inclusive, which translates to way too much eating and drinking, and a general gluttonous fattening condition of relaxing. We enjoyed the beach, the wedding of Alison's brother (the reason for the trip), touring Mayan ruins, and all in all relaxing away the normal stresses of being young and new to the American search for work and currency. (I might add that we were treated to this trip, for those wondering how we managed to be included on an international trip to an all inclusive resort, as many know we are generally young and broke. Thank you Hovde's!) Anyhow, we are now back, and have returned to bike-wrenching, bank-tellering, and getting ready for the airline life (and of course biking). The weather here is playing nasty games with Minnesotan's hearts, however. The North has ways of picking on it's residents, as after long gray cold months, it usually warms up for a while (a couple weeks ago), allowing everyone to believe summer is here, and then it friggin' snows several inches again (today). Come on. I bought new road bike tires. Sweet ones. Come on. Well, I have taxes to do. Yes, I'm last minute Jones this year. My W-2's took awhile to find me through our confusing network of recent addresses. Later.